Playoff Matchups

[The Macho King]

These are my thoughts.
Not scared of Boston but I'd pick Detroit to play.

This.

 

[Kramerica Industries]

As a life-long hater of Boston sports teams, I don't want to face the Bruins regardless of how the matchups work. I would most enjoy it entirely if the B's were the odd team out of the playoffs.

 

[Coopers Gum]

I posted this in the Around Hockey thread, but I'll repost it here:

We can beat Boston, and we can beat Montreal. It's the rest I'm worried about. Pens always fry us, as do the Isles. Wings have enough heart to do it, plus the winning culture. That would be a good series. Hard-fought.

Rangers would have something to prove after the season sweep. Plus, they've gotten better.

Caps, we can beat as well. Our D really has to show up though. Shut that first line down, you shut the team down.

If our defense is fully healthy, as are our forwards, I think we can win any series. Obviously, some will be more hard fought than others.

 

[wxkid23]

I want nothing to do with Boston. They are playing well and own us lately. Detroit. Please

And yes... if we are healthy I do believe we can beat anyone. I don't know if we are going to be though

 

[Werewolf]

I don't care who we face...Bees/Wings/Rags/Habs whatever won't matter if we are healthy. However, don't want Connolly to go off on us and decide to have a coming out party after four years of hibernation. Rather not face a motivated and now physical Conman...

 

[Callum]

I feel like we have a great chance to beat Boston in round 1 but at the price of being beaten up for the rest of the playoffs. I'd rather play anyone else in the east before the Bruins.

 

[DFC]

Looks like Max Pacioretty might miss significant time with a concussion. Which could mean big trouble for MTL in the playoffs. ...That might, weirdly, be a bad thing for us. You'd have to hope we would meet MTL at some point in the playoffs. But Pacioretty is such a huge part of their offense that I'm not sure if MTL will score enough to get out of the 1st.

 

[Maelmoor]

No matter who we meet we need to get past the first round, otherwise it's a failure..

 

[Kramerica Industries]

That much we can agree with. While last year was, in its own respects, a bonus and the team was so ransacked by injury that maybe we call were drinking too much koolaid to realize it at the time, it still serves as a motivation ploy for this year. Another year of being the de facto #3 seed in the East cannot be followed up with another first round exit. Who are we, the Sharks? *rimshot*

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

i think we can whip boston but they are cheap shot artists i dont want to play them at all want a healthy team

think playing them would take a toll and hurt us or could hurt us so do not

do not want boston

 

[Todd1a]

I want to play the Penguins! Knock sid and Malkin out!

 

[Leonardo87]

I want to play the Penguins! Knock sid and Malkin out!

The way Pittsburgh has been playing they might not even get into the playoffs.

 

[LordZapp]

Big game today for Boston. I like the caps chances of coming out tonight with a W.

 

[golgoXIII]

Hope for you Tampa fans you won't play Boston, with the size of your top 9 players i'm pretty sure Bruins will play realy physical and have a good chance to send the lightnings on the golf course.

 

[The Macho King]

Hope for you Tampa fans you won't play Boston, with the size of your top 9 players i'm pretty sure Bruins will play realy physical and have a good chance to send the lightnings on the golf course.

And with their footspeed they'll be chasing the puck all four games of the series. Boston ain't ****.

 

[Maelmoor]

I think the Caps is a difficult match-up, they have good goaltending, good coaching and Ovechkin-Bäckström, sure they lack the offensive depth we have but it's no easy task to close them down..

 

[LightningStrikes]

Yeah, do not want the Caps.

 

[chasespace]

Hope for you Tampa fans you won't play Boston, with the size of your top 9 players i'm pretty sure Bruins will play realy physical and have a good chance to send the lightnings on the golf course.

Can't hit what you can't catch.

 

[Boltsppy]

Whoever we'll face, we need our bad guys. I'm almost sure that first game will be like the one we played with Detroit few days ago. They'll try shut down our stars because they know very very well where our weakness is : we are too soft

 

[Werewolf]

Judging from the Caps/Bees game tonight...I really want to play Boston. They look terrible...like every line is getting dominated.

 

[zeykshade]

Judging from the Caps/Bees game tonight...I really want to play Boston. They look terrible...like every line is getting dominated.

This is why I wanted Boston. They are our **** atm.

Detroit is a tougher matchup than Boston.

 

[DFC]

This is why I wanted Boston. They are our **** atm.

Detroit is a tougher matchup than Boston.

We could still get Boston. I don't think it's such a lock that we finish 2nd. Montreal, a team that struggles to score, is going to be without Pacioretty for at least these last two games. Combine that with the fact that they might give Price a rest in one, and it's not unthinkable that they'll go 1-1 or even 0-2.

I think if we go 2-0 there's a pretty good chance we still take 1st. That's no easy task, I realize, but MTL is a weaker team than they were a few days ago.

 

[Kramerica Industries]

I'm not convinced Detroit is a tougher matchup, given their struggles of late and total uncertainty in net. You can still, at a bare minimum, imagine Tuukka playing above-and-beyond with a S% already in the .925 range (if Giggy could shutdown the 2003 Wings then anything's possible) and frustrating the Lightning attack. With Detroit, are they going with untested rookie Mrazek or the thoroughly mediocre Howard? Even more, do they have any faith in either choice? Goaltending is such an equalizer in a short playoff series.

 

[CupsOverCash]

So much depends on Bishop I think. If he plays like he can we will be tough to beat. Teams can play as physical as they want. Our offense will score regardless. It's about whether or not Bishop and our defense can keep it out of our net.

 

[Brie]

There is no way to know who we'll face in the PO...seem like we won't know until after Saturday.

If we move past the habs for 1st in the Atlantic then we could face anyone from Boston, to Detroit to Pittsburg (right now the Habs will face Pittsburgh since they have the most Points out of the WC), it's tight and we really have no idea who we're going to face in the 1st round which is a bit unnerving.